The general field of the invention is that of thermal protection of fluid pipes used, in particular, on automobile vehicles.
The present invention may be more particularly applied to exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) circuits of an automobile vehicle.
It is important to limit thermal losses from EGR pipes, as much to maintain the recirculated exhaust gas at a satisfactory temperature as to limit heating of surrounding items.
Thermally isolating these pipes by covering them with a braided or knitted sleeve of glass fibers or silica fibers adapted to withstand the high temperatures of the recirculation pipes, which are of the order of 400 to 500° C., is known in the art.
These protective sleeves may be tubular, in which case it is necessary to fit the sleeves over the pipes before connecting the pipes to the exhaust circuit as a whole. Furthermore, it is difficult to fit these tubular sleeves over portions of the pipes that are bent or have different cross sections.
There are also tubular sleeves slit along a longitudinal axis which, following heat treatment, are able to close up of their own accord with the longitudinal edges of the sleeve overlapping each other.
Flanges or fixing clips must then be fitted to hold the sleeve closed around the pipe to be protected.
These solutions are irksome to put into practice and fitting the protective sleeve to the pipe is relatively complicated.